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J. H. REYNOLDS.

AIR COMPRESSOR.

No. 572,372. Patemedneg. 1, 1896.

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Am ooMPREssoR. No. 572,372. Patented Deo. 1, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. REYNOLDS, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-v I-IALFTO CHARLES H. KLINCK AND FRANK H. BURP'EE, OF SAME PLACE.`

AIR-COM PRESSOR.

SPECIFICATION `forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,372, datedDecember 1, 1896. i Application filed April Z8, 1896. Serial Nox589.4742. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. REYNOLDS, a citizen of the .United States,residing in the city and county of New London, and State of Connecticut,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air Compressors,which improvements are fully set forth and described in the followingspecification, reference being had to the accompanying three 1o sheetsof drawings. Y

The immediate object of this invention is the production of a peculiarform of air-compressor, by means of which the force and flow of water,as distributed under high pressure in ordinary service-pipes, may beutilized, thus making it possible to accumulate and hold in reserve forpower or refrigeratin g purposes a vast amount of energy that is nowwasted.

zo My said apparatus is intended to be placed in a line of water-pipe insuoli manner that whenever a faucet or valvel is opened at the deliveryend of the pipe the fiow of water therethrough will serve automaticallyto start 2 5 said appartus into action, causing it to compress a certainquantity of air and force the same into a receiver, from which it may beused as needed.

To aid in explaining my newly-invented 3o apparatus, I have provided theannexeddrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of saidapparatus, and Fig. 2 shows, principally in vertical section,theair-compressingmechanism. Fig.

3 is a plan view of those parts located below line a; of Fig. 2. Fig. 4is an elevation of 'one of the water-cylinders and its piston-rod,showing particularly the mechanism'for controlling the valve'throughwhich the water 4o enters said cylinders. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 aredetail views of a rotary valve through which the water in the cylinderescapes after having performed its work.

I have illustrated my invention as includ- 4 5 ing two systems of waterand air compressing cylinders, as by such an arrangement a more constantor continuous outflow of water may be maintained, for the reason thatwhen one system stops the other system starts into ac- 5o tion and theoutflow of water is thus interrupted, but inasmuch as the two systemsare substantially alike I shall give a vdetailed description of onlyone. Y

Referring to the drawings, the letter a denotes the base upon which mydevice is mount- 5 5 ed, and b a top plate supported somewhat above saidbase by means-of vertically-extending rods or bolts c, the opposite endsof which are securely clamped to the base a and plate b, respectively,by means of nuts c', said 6o base 0;, plate b, and rods c thus forming'a rigid framework inclosing and supporting the operative portions of mydevice.

To accomplish the compression of air by means of my device, one or moresets of cylinders are provided, (preferably two,) each set composed ofwhat I term a water-cylinder d and an air-compression cylinder7 e.

Cylinders d and c are in vertical alinement with each other, the formerbeing mounted, 7c as shown, upon base a and the latter depending fromthe under side of plate b. A pistonrod j' is provided common to bothcylinders d and c, said rod bearing upon one end a piston g of pecularconstruction to coact with the water-cylinder CZ and upon its oppositeend a piston 7L of the ordinary type to coact v with the air-compressioncylinder.

By the :introduction of water under pressure into cylinder d areciprocating motion of 8o piston g within said cylinder is attained,and through rod f similar motion is imparted to piston h, the movementof which latter within its cylinder e serves to compress air therein andto drive such compressed air into a receiver, as is fully explainedhereinafter.

It has already been stated that my device is placed in the line ofwater-pipe, and it is the pressure of water caused to flow therethroughby the opening of a faucet or valve 9o at the delivery end of such lineof pipe that I have utilized to operate the system of pistons justdescribed.

Referring now to the manner in which said flow of water serves tooperate the pistons and 4to the construction of the cylinders and otherelements of my device immediately connected with the controlling of saidiiow of water, Fig.2, the letter la denotes a pipe by means of whichwater is introduced directly into the roo cylinder d, said pipe kleading into the lower end thereof. Piston g has centrally located onone face a boss g, and extending through said piston and into said bossfrom the opposite face is a cone-shaped chamber g2, from the smaller endof which a number of openings gslead outward through boss g". Boss g'serves also to receive that end of piston-rod f that is coincident withpiston g.

Reference-letter m denotes a conical shell which when my device isassembled is seated in and snugly fits the cone-shaped chamber g2, butis free to be revolved therein.

Piston-rod f is tubular throughouta'portion of its length, as at f, andsuch tubular portion is adapted to :receive a stem or rod m', extendingfrom the smaller end of the conical shell m, Fig. 2. Rod m is providednear its free end with an arm m2, projecting at right angles thereto,said arm passing outward through an opening or slot f 2 in the tubularrod f. The conical shell m is provided with openings m3, similar to theopenings g3 of boss g.

It will now be readily understood by reference to Figs. 2, 7, and 8 ofthe drawings that shell fm may be so revolved in its seat as to carryits openings m3 either into or out of alinement with openings g3, thusproviding 'means of communication through piston g to the opposite endof cylinder CZ. Uien piston g is in its lowest position, with itsconical shell m so located as to close the passage through openings m3and g3, as shown in the left-hand cylinder of Fig. l and also in Fig. 7,the introduction of Water through pipe 7c into said cylinder serves todrive the piston g upward within the cylinder, this upward movement alsocarrying upward rod f and the inner rod m until piston g'has nearlyreached the opposite end of the cylinder CZ, when the arm m2, projectingfrom rod m through the opening f2 of rod f, comes in contact with afixed cam n, supported upon a framework 91X, mounted on posts c. Furtherupward movement of the said traveling parts now causes the end of saidarm m2, engaging cam n, to follow the outline of said cam, whichengagement effects the partial revolution of rod m within rod f, andwhen. piston g has reached its highest point in the cylinder d (theposition shown in dotted lines in the left-hand cylinder d) said rod 'm'and its connected shell m will have revolved sufficiently to bring intocoincidence the openings m3 and the openings gg, as shown in theright-hand cylinder of Fig. 2 and in Fig. 8, when the water will beallowed to pass freely from the lower portion of cylinder d through thepiston and thence through a pipe o, leading from the cylinder-head d toa faucet at the delivery end ot' said pipe. l

To guard against any possibility of the return or backward flow of waterthrough pipe O into cylinder CZ after the flow of water from pipe 7o isshutoff, a Valve O' is located in-pipe O, the construction of which issuch that water can pass therethrough only in the direction of the arrowadjacent thereto. It will therefore be readily understood thatV the flowof water from cylinder CZ will force open said valve O and allow thewater to pass out, but any attempt of the water to return to cylinder pwill result in the closing of the valve. So soon as the iiow of water isshut off piston g at once commences to descend by gravity, (or by aid ofthe companion piston g when a double-cylinder system is employed, ashereinafter descrbed,) the arm m2 in such downward movement engaging asuitable cam n2 when the piston g has nearly reached the lower end ofthe cylinder, such cam serving to swing the arm in the directionopposite to that when engaging cam n, and thus revolving rod m and itsshell m in the proper direction to again close the passage throughopenings m3 and g3, and this last-named result is accomplished just asthe piston reaches the bottom end of cylinder p. The piston is thenagain ready to travel upward so soon as the iow of wateris turned on.

To control the flow of waterfrom pipe 7c into cylinder d, so that suchiiowlmay be shut off when the highest point in cylinder d has beenreached by the piston g, and in order that the piston may be allowed toreturn to its lowest position to be again acted upon by the iniiow ofwater, the following-described 'automatically-acting mechanism has beenprovided:

Reference-letter p denotes a vertically-extending rod supported at itsupper end in the free end of an arm p', secured to one of the posts c,and near its lower end having a bearing a in the base c, which rod p iscapable of a vertically-reciproeating movement in its said bearings.`Located in the pipe 7s is a valve 7s', on the stem 702 of which islocated an arm k3, the free end of which is slotted to receive eitherthe end of rod p or a pin p2, projecting therefrom, and on said rod pare collars 273194. Fixedly secured to rod fand projecting at rightangles therefrom is an arm f3, the free end of which lies in the path ofsaid collars p3 p4. VVhen valve 7o' is open and the iiow of water frompipe 7c is forcing the piston g and its rod upward, such movement of rodf correspondingly raises the arm f3, the free end of which latterengages collar p3 just before the piston g has reached its highest pointin cylinder d or approximately at the time that the conical shell fm.begins to revolve to allow the passage of water through piston g, saidarm f3 and collar p3 being so located on rods f and p, respectively,that such engagement of the parts is accomplished atthe time stated.Continued upward movement of rod f now acts through arm f3, engagingcollar p3 to correspondingly draw upward the said armi? and toraise thefree end of the arm k3, securedto the lower end of said rod p until rodf has reached its highest position, as shown in 4dotted lines, Fig. 4C,when rod p will have been raised sufficiently to rockl arm 7c3 from theposition shown in full lines to that shown in dotted lines, and will IOOIIO

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thus have resulted in rocking the valve-shaft k2 sufficiently to closevalve 7o and bring it into the position` of the right-hand valve of Fig.2. As the piston moves downward again the rod p will be left in itshighest position until arm f3 engages the collar. p4, which it does justbefore piston g has reached thebottom of the cylinder, when rod p isforced downward, rocking arm k3 into the position shown in full lines,Fig. 4, thus again opening valve lo just as the piston g has reached itslowest point, after which the various operations described again takeplace and are repeated so long as there is a flow of water through pipela.

The manner in which lthe flow of water is utilized to impart areciprocating movement to piston g and connected parts being nowunderstood, an explanation will be given of the manner in which suchreciprocatingmovement accomplishes the compression and storage ofcompressed air.

Cylinder e is provided with inlet and outlet passages, (shown in thedrawings as pipes s and 15,) each of which is provided with valves s'and t', said valves being of such construction as to allow the passageof air therethrough in the direction indicated by the arrows adjacent toeach, the tendencyT of air to pass in the opposite directions resultingin the automatic closing of said valves and preventing such passage.When piston h moves downward in cylinder e, it tends to create'a vacuumin said cylinder, and to overcome such vacuum air rushes thereintothrough inlet s, forcing open and passing freely by valves s', piston gbeing now in the position shown in the left-hand section of Fig. 2. Sosoon, however, as the return movement of said cylinder commences itbegins to drive before it and compress within cylinder e the air justadmitted. The air now seeks an outlet through pipes s and t, but isprevented from passing out through pipes s by the automatically closingof valves s', as described. The forcing of air into passage t, however,opens valve t', thereby allowing the current of air to pass through pipet to a suitable receiver o.' The air thus forced into the receiver isprevented from returning to the cylinder e by the check-valve t. It willnow be readily understood that air can enter cylinder e only throughpipe s and leave only through pipe t.

Vhile I have thus far described a single system of water and aircompression cylinders, I have shown in the drawings a double systemforces downward the rod fand connected parts of the companion system,which return movement is thus more satisfactorily accomplished than whendependent upon gravity. l

When the double system is employed, the valve stem or shaft k2 ispreferably made suficiently long to engage pipe k of each system andthus to support upon each end avalve 7c. These valves are set at aquarter-turn to each other, so that they may admit and shut ofi' theilow of water alternately to their respective cylinders g. Then valvesk2 are arranged in the manner just described, only a single rod p andconnected parts for controlling valves c is required, but it will bereadily seen that, if desired, each valve 7c' may have its owncontrolling mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings the pipes k are shown as leading from acommon pipe 7a4, to which they are joined by means of a T h5. Thisfeature is also carried out in the case of outlet-pipes o, leading fromcylinders d, and with the pipes t, leading from cylinders e. In theformer case the pipes are connected by a T 02, from vwhich a pipe o3leads'to the outlet or faucet, and in the latter case pipes t lead to aT t2, from which a pipe t3 leads to a receiver o.

Assuming now that a device of my described construction is provided, theopening of a faucet at the delivery end of pipe o3 causes water to flowfrom pipe 7a4, through pipes k,

into and through cylinders CZ, setting in motion the operative parts ofmy device in the manner described and passing thence from said cylindersthrough pipes o and vo3 and through the said faucet. The movement ofpistons h within the cylinders e results in the compression -of air andthe storing of it in receptacle o, from which it may be drawn fordesired uses.

My device as a whole is very simple in its construction, is notexpensive to build, and utilizes to good advantage the otherwise lostpower present in all ordinary water-service pipes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim IOO IIO

l. In an air-compressor, in combination,

two superimposed cylinders, a piston for each of said cylinders mountedupon a single piston-rod as set forth, a rotary valve mountedpiston-valve to open and close the same.

3. In combination, in and with a line of water-pipe a water-cylinderhaving a piston posite ends are connected with said pistonrods, meansfor automatically introducing,` Water into one of the cylinders of eachpair, and means consisting,` of rotary Valves Within said pistons andmechanism for operating the same whereby the Water in said cylinders maypass the pistons and he discharged, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

JOHN H. REYNOLDS. lVitnesses:

FRANK H. ALLEN, MAY RITCHIE.

